Ossian Shine

It’s Inside Track time. This week: an Italian title on the brink, ping pong fever hitting London, and Mint Juleps at the Kentucky Derby. Global Sports Editor Ossian Shine has your weekend covered.

Southampton have been thrown out of ​Saturday’s Championship playoff final.

For more than half a century, Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova have stood as twin pillars of modern sport — rivals, friends, foils and co-authors of one of tennis's most compelling stories.

Brazil coach Carlo Ancelotti says his team must improve after being ​held to a 1-1 draw by Morocco in ‌their World Cup Group C opener on Saturday, acknowledging an unbalanced and nervous first-half performance.

Iran arrive in US for World Cup opener against New Zealand in LA

France swept Sweden aside 3-0 with ​a display of attacking verve and precision to book their place in the World Cup last 16.

British politicians dragged FIFA’s Folarin Balogun ​controversy into England’s World Cup campaign on Monday, urging world soccer’s governing body to grant defender Jarell ‌Quansah the same disciplinary reprieve given to the U.S. striker while a UK parliamentary committee demanded answers over the original ruling.

The soundtrack surrounding the United States’ World Cup on home soil was impossible to escape. Television adverts ​urged fans to believe in miracles. Marketing campaigns promised destiny. Every setback was framed as the prelude to a triumph. But after a 4-1 humbling by Belgium, all that ‌talk of belief gave way to a simpler reality: the co-hosts were beaten by a better team.

Mikel Oyarzabal and Pedro Porro supplied the goals, but the scoreline barely reflected Spain’s authority.

Ferran Torres struck in the ​106th minute.